Mosques and churches and synagogues, oh my!

The next day, we went to the Cairo museum. It was absolutely amazing. There were so many thousands-years-old treasures packed into the museum, but my absolute favorite had to be the King Tut exhibit. They tell you that the pharaohs were incredibly rich, but you can't really visualize that until you walk through the exhibit and into the Gold Room. There are so many solid gold items buried with the mummy of a teenaged pharaoh. To imagine what Ramses the great had in his enormous tomb after over 50 years on the throne is just mind blowing. 

After wandering the museum and lunch, we went off to explore all the religions. We stopped at a Coptic church, took a peek into a Jewish synagogue (fun fact: there are only 12 Jews in Egypt, all children), and visited the Alabaster mosque, an absolutely amazing mosque that dominates the Cairo skyline. None of the pictures capture the glow of the place, but I tried. We got to wear our headscarves for the first time, and we all looked fabulous. 

Emily, me, Emma, and Aubrey in front of the Alabaster mosque.
Don't we look so cute in our head scarves. They are my favorite thing.

The ceiling of the mosque. Probably a thousand lights were hanging down a couple feet above our heads, giving everything a beautiful glow. 

Amanda and I against the skyline of Cairo. Yes, everything was covered in smog. I felt right at home. You can't see--the smog--but off to the left the pyramids were visible. 

Our dinner location. Nothing finishes off a day better than eating delicious food while on the Nile. We even had slightly sketchy entertainment in the form of a Whirling Dervish, fancy talk for a guy who spins in circles in a skirt for about 20 minutes. It was interesting. And a bit weird, because he was actually sort of creepy. The best part was taking some pictures from the top. 

Sometimes people snap pictures while I'm not looking. 

This sweet lady was making bread on the dock. It's sort of like pita, but infinitely better in my opinion, and the best warm. I watched her for like 20 minutes. 

After dinner we took off for the airport to fly down to Luxor, where we would finish up our time in Egypt. I was so tired, but once again sleep eluded me. Never mind that. I talked with Andrea about books, which was the best. Harry Potter for the win.